By reason of standards that are more and more rigid for the sterilization of objects, such as in the medical field and the food industry, there is an increasing need for new high performance devices and processes that are free of the limitations and/or disadvantages of known devices.
The devices that use plasma sterilizing processes, in spite of their excellent performances, have not yet achieve a significant breakthrough in the sterilization market that traditionally involves the utilization of devices that use vapor and/or chemical treatments.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,254 describes a sterilization process that uses a plasma post-discharge, this discharge being carried out in a gas mixture, in which the main gas is nitrogen, or argon. Such a mixture is described as advantageously containing between 0.5% and 20% O2, in order that sterilization time be as short as possible.
The effect of UV on DNA has been studied in an article by Moisan et al., which appeared in International Journal of Pharmaceutics, vol. 226 pp 1-21 (2001).
These prior art processes have limitations, for example with respect to the homogeneity of distribution of sterilizing species and, consequently with respect to contaminated objects, and with respect to the total surface of the contaminated objects that can be treated in the same chamber.
Moreover, several of the known processes and devices tend to damage or deteriorate the objects to be sterilized. After being submitted to a plurality of such treatments these objects can be considerably damaged.
There was therefore a need for new processes and devices that are free of at least one limitation of the devices of the prior art.